Azerbaijan has got into habit of practicing blackmail on the threshold of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian Presidents’ meeting. This country always raises one issue in the negotiation process, particularly the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the liberated territories, expert of Armenian Center for National and International Studies Manvel Sargsyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am. The expert commented on Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s statement that the outcome of Sochi meeting “depends on Yerevan’s position.”

“Mammadyarov clearly stated that their problem is withdrawal of Armenian troops from the territories. Azerbaijan seeks to set this as a precondition for a regular meeting. The Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan also said the same thing,” Sargsyan said.  According to him, Armenia should make it clear whether it will agree to the President’s March 5 meeting or not. Sargsyan stated this meeting is not sure to take place.

Commenting on the statement whether Azerbaijan’s such stance may be considered as an attempt to fail the negotiation process, the expert said: “Azerbaijan never said the opposite. It has insisted on talks to restore its territorial integrity and does not see any other problem.”

Sargsyan emphasized that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries have failed to give an adequate response to Azerbaijan’s statements and did not clearly raise the issues the Armenian side is concerned over. “Have they ever spoken of a referendum or told Azerbaijan this is the problem? They failed to do so, enabling Azerbaijan to dictate its conditions.

For example, International Crisis Group which has repeatedly stated if the conflicting parties fail to come to agreement, Azerbaijan will resume hostilities. No argument is brought why the conflict should be solved in this way. The only one is “Azerbaijan will launch a war”, he stressed.